The Tackle: Jonah Pezet had his weaknesses exposed against Melbourne - and Michael Maguire will be taking notes
If there’s one coach who knew how to exposes Jonah Pezet’s weaknesses, it’s Craig Bellamy, who spoiled the youngster’s Eels debut against his former team with a dominant display.
Brisbane coach Michael Maguire has been handed the blueprint to unsettle his future halfback Jonah Pezet on Thursday night - unleash Jordan Riki.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy seemingly gave back rower Joe Chan one job against Parramatta, and that was to terrorise his former teammate Pezet.
Like a cruise missile, Chan made a beeline for Pezet on both sides of the ball.
Chan even made sure to get in Pezet’s face after a knock on early in the first half and lined him up in defence at every chance he got.
Even when Pezet stood his ground, making a try-saving legs tackle on Chan, the back rower was able to get a quick play the ball away leading to a Will Warbrick try.
The extra attention would no doubt be demoralising for any young playmaker.
Riki will line-up on Pezet’s edge when the Broncos attempt to get their campaign back on track against Parramatta at Suncorp Stadium.
If Riki can take a leaf out of Chan’s book, he’ll go a long way in unnerving the young playmaker and Parramatta’s attack.
SET RESTARTS FALL FLAT
The NRL’s tweak to the set restart rule has fallen flat among diehard fans.
In the opening eight games this season, there was a total of 64 restarts or an average of eight per game.
That is almost double the number of set restarts awarded in Round 1 last year, according to Code Sports Stats, and the average per game was just 4.63 restarts.
The increase in restarts is on the back of a change that the ARLC approved in February.
Previously, ruck infringements beyond the 40-metre line would trigger a set restart but this year the threshold is the 20-metre line, effectively giving referees more scope to award repeat sets.
There were stark swings in momentum in the opening round, including in Canberra’s golden-point win over Manly. The Sea Eagles bolted to a 14-0 lead on the back of four consecutive set restarts but as soon as Raiders had the rub of the green, the momentum was with Canberra who were able to claw back the difference.
The NRL’s desire to speed up the game could be argued as having a detrimental impact on the overall contest, so too the ability of referees to potentially sway momentum, and that teams on the receiving end of the infringements struggling to wrestle back any ascendancy without the leg up of a restart in their favour.
One solution would be to limit set restarts to the first or second tackle of an attacking set, with infringements there after awarded a penalty when warranted.